Cycling Scotland — Edinburgh to Inverness via the West Coast

In September we used our holidays to cycle around Scotland — a two-week mini-adventure that would serve as a test run ahead of our plan to ride around the world.

Unlike our cycle through the English Midlands, which started from our front door, this time our journey would begin on a train to Edinburgh. Unfortunately, someone having a very bad day decided to take their own life on the tracks that morning, forcing us to spend the day in various stations waiting for services to resume and leaving us unable to reach Edinburgh until after dark.

As so often, the generosity of a Warmshowers host saved the night — we had somewhere warm to sleep without needing to sprint out of Edinburgh looking for a place to pitch the tent.

Helena took great care of us despite the last-minute request — a couple of texts later and we'd arranged to stay the night in her flat in Portobello, on the outskirts of Edinburgh. A very quiet neighbourhood around a beach, the same stretch of coastline where years earlier I'd stormed a Scottish castle. Time flies.

Edinburgh to Oban

Church in Edinburgh

The next morning we set off along the coast, following cycle paths through Edinburgh's parks to the Queensferry bridge, where we picked up the coastal cycle route towards Stirling.

Unlike roads, Scottish cycle routes thread through fields and villages on little country paths, so you end up covering twice the distance while enjoying considerably more pleasant surroundings.

The William Wallace Monument

Our first night in the tent was spent hiding behind some warehouses in the town of Alloa. We had to stop longer than planned there because of a puncture — again, as had happened in England, we got a puncture on the very first day of the trip.

Our route took us through Callander, where we picked up another off-road track through forests and lochs to our next Warmshowers host in Strathyre — a small village in the middle of a national park.

Loch Lubnaig

George and Nancy were our hosts in Strathyre, a very friendly couple planning a months-long caravan tour of Europe. We might well cross paths with them in France in a couple of weeks!

Back on the road — cycle route — road — another cycle track — somewhere along the line we took a wrong turn and after several kilometres of descent found ourselves heading in completely the wrong direction.

The GPS on the phone couldn't get a precise enough fix, but going by ear and common sense it was obvious this wasn't right.

Picking out the distant sound of cars on the only road in the area, I decided to cut across country — through small hiking paths and private land — much to Ilze's obvious delight. By some miracle we found our way back to the correct road without having to climb back up, saving ourselves what turned out to be more than 15 kilometres of backtracking.

Roads, lochs and fish and chips later, we ended up camping beside a stream. We'd barely finished pitching the tent when it started raining — just in time.

The Isle of Mull and the back roads to Mallaig

Our route continued to Oban, where we decided to take the ferry to the Isle of Mull on the recommendation of Helena — our first Warmshowers host. On this small island we found the perfect camping spot: right in front of the sea, quiet, well away from the already-deserted road, gorgeous views of the sunset and sunrise, no midges and even a picnic table. What more could you ask for without paying a thing?

Sunset on the Isle of Mull

The calm of Mull continued along the back roads of the Scottish west coast. Other cars were a rare sight — even the wind had left us alone. The Scottish midges had not, however, and they swarmed onto their only prey the moment we stopped for a sip of water or to take a photo.

The villages we passed through were tiny — so small that most didn't have even a single pub. The post office served as café, community hub and corner shop.

Cycling through the mist

One afternoon we cycled on well into the night without finding anywhere we felt happy pitching the tent. We eventually settled on a patch of grass off the road — the first bit of ground we'd seen in hours that wasn't fenced-off private land.

It turned out to look like a fine spot to us — and apparently to most of the local midge population too. When we arrived there were only a couple of them about, but by the time we started pitching the tent they were coating us head to toe.

Following the advice we'd been given, and our own hard-won experience, we kept every bit of skin covered to avoid bites. As I knelt to finish pegging out the tent my shirt rode up slightly and, in the rush, I didn't notice until the next morning when I woke up with a stinging sensation around my waist. I had a complete belt of bites all the way round.

Getting out of the tent the next morning was its own adventure — the morning condensation had caused midges to gather all over the tent fabric. It took a good while and many vigorous shakes before we managed to dislodge them — at which point they landed straight back on us.

Tent and sleeping bags packed away into the panniers again, ready to carry on between mountains, lochs and golden beaches to Mallaig. Again it got late, and we arrived well into the evening.

Our tent was so saturated we ruled out another night in it. There were no hostels available — even the B&Bs were full — so we ended up sleeping outside in the train station. No heating and not fully enclosed, but at least there was a roof of sorts. We put our sleeping mats on the floor, tucked the bikes at the back, got the stove out and cooked dinner before lying down in the middle of town.

The Isle of Skye

The next morning the first train woke us up — which handily meant we were up in time to catch the first ferry to the Isle of Skye. Once there we checked into the first hostel we found and made the most of it: a laundry run, a proper clean of the tent, and a thorough drying in the common room.

Tempted to swap the bike for a boat

When cycling in Scotland, it's important to mark the key stops on the map — the things you can't miss. The non-negotiables. THE SUPERMARKETS.

Given how spread out the Scottish population is, and the lack of any real towns along the west coast, the frequency with which you find a shop to restock is pretty low. You can go days without seeing one, so it's essential not to bypass any and to plan your route around their locations.

When you're cycling you're hungry — after all, you need to fuel the legs to push a loaded bike. Sometimes we overestimate our supplies and, despite buying several bags full of kilos of food, find ourselves down to biscuits and jam by the next morning.

After our first supermarket stop on Skye, we continued towards the Trotternish peninsula in the north of the island.

The south of Skye was a mild disappointment — nothing particularly striking, even a bit dull. But as we pushed north things changed quickly and we discovered the true beauty of this Scottish island.

Path across the Isle of Skye

During the ride we bumped into another cyclist and swapped stories and jokes over a couple of hours of pedalling together — plus a couple of close calls with traffic, given how absorbed we were in conversation.

The views are stunning — particularly when the rain allows you to see anything. And these landscapes are this impossibly green for a reason: Skye gets more rainfall than anywhere else in Scotland.

A beautiful wild camp on the grass near The Old Man of Storr was the perfect prelude to a sunny day — right up until the gale arrived, catching us on the northernmost tip of the island in the middle of nowhere.

Cycling towards The Old Man of Storr

That morning we'd run out of eggs, but in places like this you can buy eggs from the roadside without even encountering a vendor — farmers leave eggs at the entrance to their land with a box for payment. This little system sorted us out for a couple of breakfasts.

As for eggs — the storm outdid them all. It caught us off guard, and when locals told us it was set to last all day, it didn't seem smart to stay put in the least-inhabited part of the island. We kept pedalling into wind and rain heading south, back around the peninsula, trying to reach the next village.

Views of the Scottish sea from Skye before the storm

We stopped at the Youth Hostel there, but they wouldn't let us pitch the tent in the garden and wouldn't let us use the showers without staying the night. And we certainly weren't going to pay more than £20 a head for separate dorms — there were no mixed ones — just for a warm sleep.

So we did what we do best: kept cycling. Pedalling until we spotted a signal, somewhere sheltered and safe... a church! We made straight for it, no deliberation needed. We pitched the tent right next to the cross, on the lawn at the entrance to the church itself.

Rain fell all night. At several points I thought the wind was going to take the tent, but it held firm. Advantages of buying a four-season tent.

The next morning it was still raining, so we lay in the tent eating cheese, bread and biscuits until we heard the voices of parishioners heading in for the service. We'd joked about it all night and it came true: we were invited in to warm up, have something to eat and use the toilets the moment they opened that Sunday morning.

Up the north coast road to Inverness

A rainbow welcomed us to Loch Ness

Our route through Scotland continued along the north coast road, grinding through increasingly heavy and frequent rain, gritting our teeth, taking painkillers for the tendinitis that plagued my left knee for most of the trip, and taking shelter under whatever roofs we could find.

We finally reached Inverness — the last city on our Scottish cycling route before catching the train back to Manchester and real life. We arrived a day ahead of schedule, so we used the afternoon for one final leg of cycling, down to Loch Ness via the islands of the River Ness south of Inverness.

All photos from our Scottish cycling trip:

Our cycling route through Scotland:

Twelve days, nearly 800 km of pedalling, and several trains later, we were back in Manchester. We worked there for a few more months before setting off on our big adventure: cycling around the world.